“He is weak and broken and ashamed by his own admission,” one of Lauer’s former “Today” show colleagues told People.

“He is my friend,” the source adds. “He is human, and he is flawed. But is he going to use his power to be a predator on women? Until I see solid evidence of that, I just can’t believe it. We don’t know the details.”

The news of Lauer’s inability to recover from the fiasco comes a few days after a report in Us Weekly. The report suggested that a “really terrible vibe” had swept over the “Today” show set in the wake his firing.

“Savannah [Guthrie] is devastated,” an insider told the magazine. “She and Matt were really close.”

Apparently, many of Lauer’s co-workers were surprised by the news.

“They knew Matt was flirty and playful and may have had relationships over the years, but what they knew of those relationships was that they were consensual, and they weren’t aware they went beyond that,” the source told Us.

The mood in Studio 1A became solemn after Lauer was fired.

“Execs treated it as if Matt had died. It was very somber,” a separate source told Us. “The usual editorial meetings that have about 30 or so people were now 200 people, because execs were addressing the situation with everyone. They were transparent and opened the floor to questions.”